New to Max

I am currently in a unique situation - Management bought 3D Studio Max to bring more photorealism to their models, however I am having a tough time getting it to work, and while there are no doubt numerous questions that can be legitimately be asked of the process, I am finding it difficult to even get a baseline answer online as to what would be a solid foundation to build from. I will therefore list what I can easily acquire, and I'm hoping one of you all can give me an idea on whether or not I'm even on the right track.

Now, in your opinion(s) - is this enough horsepower to get things done? I have conflicting reports that quibble between virtual memory vs actual memory (the debate is that over 256mb of RAM won't yield you any better performance from MAX - That it's all about how much free hard drive space you have for virtual memory).